The explosion in smartphone and tablet computer adoption has provided artists with a new canvas, with apps like Procreate and Brushes offering new possibilities for the composition, distribution and sale of digital artwork. The way that art is valued and sold is also changing, with ventures like Art.sy and Saatchi Online using powerful algorithms to serve up potential art purchases to users. But will the ‘tap revolution’ herald a great flattening of the art market? Or will the old elites ensure collecting fine art remains a pursuit of the ultra wealthy?

Future Human regulars Jack Roberts and Ben Beaumont-Thomas discuss this new frontier of the art world with two digital art startup pioneers, Ian Barham and Nick Boyce, who have worked with a series of different companies including The Art Group, MagnoliaBox, Artistic.ly and easyart. They discuss their work in bringing great art to the masses via print-on-demand technology, as well as the prospects for virtualised sales of digital artwork, the future of the high-market for art, and the increasingly blurry definition of the ‘art object’.

We also hear from Julian Stallabrass of the Courtauld Institute, a theorist who has followed Internet-based art since the mid-90s, and from Brian Fulkerson of the innovative UK-based startup Artfinder, who explains why he thinks mobile is opening up an entirely new and global market for art.

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